Author's Note: Sorry this is sooooo late guys! It's been crazy busy with the holidays plus there was a lot of ground I wanted to cover in this chapter and I didn't want to short change it. Thank you for your patience! Please don't forget to review and let me know what you think! Hope everyone had good holidays, and Happy New Year to you all! :)

Chapter Twenty-Five

"Ponyboy! Ponyboy wake up!"

Pony gasped as he sat straight up in bed. "Soda?" he called out desperately as his eyes searched his darkened bedroom.

Suddenly the lamp on the bedside table was snapped on. "No. It's me." Darry was perched on the edge of the bed, looking down at Pony sadly.

"Oh," Pony said, slumping over. As always, now that he was awake everything was quickly coming back to him. "Sorry, Darry."

"You okay, kiddo?" Darry asked with concern.

Pony looked down at his hands which were resting in his lap. They were trembling, even the one in the cast which made it ache. His heart was racing. He paused trying to catch his breath. "I'm okay."

Darry nodded. He looked a little uncomfortable. He had never been the one to really comfort Pony after a nightmare. Soda had always done that. But Soda wasn't here. That fact was so painfully obvious as Pony involuntarily let his eyes stray to Soda's empty side of the bed. It was all so strange. Pony had been home for several days now. Everything was supposed to be better now that he was home. And it was… but at the same time it wasn't. He had Darry back but Soda was still missing.

"Okay," Darry said, a little awkwardly.

Pony bit his lip, unable to look at Darry. He picked at the edge of his cast, fidgeting uncomfortably. He felt bad for calling out for Soda and not for Darry. "Sorry I woke you, Darry."

"It's okay, kiddo," Darry said.

He started to get up but Pony reached out and stopped him. "Could you stay for a few minutes?"

"Sure," Darry said with a tentative smile as he sat back down. "Do you remember what you dreamed about?"

Slowly Pony shook his head. "No, I don't."

Darry nodded, not surprised. He paused. "Did you have any nightmares while… while you were away?"

Pony shifted uncomfortably. "Yeah… I did," he said quietly. "At the boy's home me and Soda were put in different rooms. The first night… I had a real bad nightmare. I was screamin' in my sleep I guess. One of the boys in the room hit me to wake me up. Soda heard the commotion and came runnin' in. That's when he first got in trouble. That's when he first started fightin' with that boy."

Darry leaned forward and placed a comforting hand on Pony's shoulder. Pony looked up at him then back down, embarrassed to find that there were tears in his eyes. "This wasn't your fault, Pony," Darry said softly, somehow pinpointing Pony's feelings without him saying it out loud.

"It feels like it was," Pony admitted, his voice shaking with emotion.

Darry reached over and lifted Pony's chin, forcing him to look at him. A tear escaped down Pony's cheek, hitting Darry's fingertips. "Ponyboy. None of this is your fault. All this happened because of an accident. Nothin' more."

Pony nodded, but he was still frowning. "Darry… I'm scared. I'm scared to go see him there." It was Pony's turn to go visit Soda in the juvenile detention center the next day. But the thought of seeing his brother in such a place was terrifying to him.

"You don't have to go if you don't want to," Darry told him gently. "Two-Bit can go instead."

But at that Pony quickly shook his head. "No. Soda expects me to come see him. I can't just not go. I can't just abandon him like that."

To Pony's surprise, Darry smiled at him. "You sound just like Soda."

Pony couldn't help but grin at this. "Thanks, Darry."

"We're gonna get Soda back, Pony," Darry assured him. "I promise I'm gonna do everythin' I can to bring him home."

"I know," Pony said.

They lapsed into silence. Darry shifted so that he was leaning up against the backboard of the bed, his legs stretched out. Pony lay next to him. Eventually they drifted off like that, each comforted by the other's presence. Their family was still broken but it was at least a little less broken than it was.

XxXxX

As Pony stirred the next morning he was surprised to find the space next to him empty, not recalling Darry leaving the night before. He glanced around the room. Darry must have already woken. That wasn't unusual. Pony yawned and stretched as he slowly pulled himself out of bed. He shuffled out of the room and started down the hallway. He heard muffled voices and followed them into the kitchen. Darry and Steve were both sitting at the kitchen table.

"'Mornin'," Pony mumbled as he walked in.

"Hey, Pony," Darry sighed.

Pony looked over at Darry curiously as he joined them at the table. Something seemed off. He looked exhausted, like he had hardly slept at all. His shoulders were hunched over and he was carefully cupping a mug of black coffee in front of him. He didn't quite look at Pony when he had walked in. Pony felt his stomach twist into a knot.

"What's wrong?" he asked quietly, looking from Darry to Steve, who looked a bit distressed himself. Clearly something was wrong. "Is it Soda?"

Steve shook his head. "Darry ain't feelin' good today, kid."

That took Pony by surprise as he looked back at Darry. It was so difficult to imagine something being wrong with Darry. It was hard to think of his oldest brother as anything less than invincible. But this morning Darry looked pale and worn.

"What's wrong?" Pony asked him carefully.

"I get… migraines sometimes," Darry said slowly. He rubbed his temples lightly. He sighed heavily. "I'm not gonna be able to make it to work today."

Pony gave a start at this. He couldn't remember a time when Darry had missed work because he wasn't feeling well. Darry never got sick, and even when he did feel off he still always went to work. That spoke volumes about how bad these migraines actually were.

"I'll give Pony a ride today," Steve said. "Two-Bit'll be over to check in on you." This also threw Pony off. Steve never sounded this responsible. Suddenly he felt like an outsider sitting in someone else's house. It was an uncomfortable feeling for him since he had felt like a stranger in someone else's house for the past two months. He was home now. That feeling should be gone.

"Thanks, Steve," Darry mumbled, closing his eyes as he leaned his forehead on his hand.

"Darry?" Pony said, a little unsurely.

He could see that Darry's jaw was suddenly clenched and his muscles were tense. He let out a small groan in response. Pony could only stare unsure how he should react, but Steve was already jumping into action. He was on his feet and hurrying from the room in a second. A minute later he returned with a small bottle of pills. With the ease of a well-practiced occurrence, Steve took Darry's free hand and shook two pills into it. Without even opening his eyes Darry popped the pills and swallowed. For several minutes everything was still and silent. Then Darry's muscles finally seemed to relax a fraction and he opened his eyes.

"You okay, Darry?" Pony asked worriedly.

Darry looked over at him and gave him a smile that was also a grimace. "Yeah, I'll be fine, Pony. I just need to get some rest."

"C'mon, Darry," Steve said with surprising gentleness as he stood up. "I'll help you back to your room."

Darry allowed Steve to help him up from his seat and lead him out of the room. Pony noticed that he looked unsteady, leaning on Steve slightly. Pony frowned as watched the scene. He had never seen Darry need help like that from anyone before. Just a few minutes later Steve returned and took his seat at the table again.

"You should probably eat somethin' before we go," Steve said pointedly.

Pony shook himself from his stupor as he got up from the table. He wasn't feeling up for cooking anything so he just went for a loaf of bread, intending to make some toast.

"So… does that happen a lot?" Pony asked slowly.

"Not as much as it used to," Steve said. He had found a car magazine and was absently flipping through it.

"Oh," Pony said, concern in his voice as he waited for the bread to toast. He leaned with his back up against the counter, cradling his casted arm in front of him awkwardly. He couldn't help but imagine how much Darry had been through since the end of September. This hadn't only been hard on him and Soda. Darry was struggling as well, even more so than Pony originally thought.

A few minutes passed and Steve looked up from his magazine. "Pony?"

"Yeah?" Pony said, looking over at him.

"Your toast is burning."

Pony stared at him uncomprehending for a second. Then the statement clicked and he cursed as he spun around and popped the toast out of the toaster, which was smoking considerably. Both slices were burned completely black. He sighed. He didn't want to waste any food so as he pulled it out of the toaster and tossed it onto a plate he decided to layer on a lot of butter to try and cover out the burned taste.

About twenty minutes later Pony was fed and dressed, following Steve out the door to where his car was parked on the curb in front of the house.

"Should we be leavin' Darry by himself like this?" Pony asked slowly as they approached the car.

"He'll be fine," Steve assured him as he climbed into driver's seat. "He'll just lay in bed most of the day. Two-Bit'll be over before he needs anythin'."

"You and Two-Bit really have this down, don't you?" Pony said with wonder as he also climbed into the car.

Steve simply shrugged as he started up the car. As he drove Pony fidgeted uncomfortably in his seat. He felt nervous. It seemed so unnatural to see Soda in this kind of setting. All too soon they were pulling up in front of the juvenile detention center.

"It can be kinda rough in there," Steve warned him as Pony hesitated in the car. "Soda's gotta keep his cool in front of the other guys or else they're gonna peg him as weak and target him. Don't talk to any of the other inmates. I made that mistake yesterday. Don't even look at any of the other guys, got it?"

Pony nodded, feeling even more nervous. "Yeah. I got it."

"Okay," Steve said, leaning back in his seat. "I'll wait for you here."

Pony took a deep breath before he forced himself to move. He reached out and pushed open the car door and climbed from the vehicle, pushing the door shut awkwardly with his left hand. He couldn't wait to get this cast off next week.

He felt timid as he walked into the juvenile detention center. He signed in at the front desk and was patted down. They even went so far as to shine a light into the inside of his cast. Then he was led back into the facility. As they walked he did his best not to look around too much. He didn't want to be familiar with this place.

He was left in the visitor's room while the guard went to fetch his brother. He was thankful to see that there was one other inmate visiting and he was able to pick a table at the opposite end of the room. He held his hands in his lap, picking at his cast as he waited. It seemed to take an awfully long time, but finally a grated door at one end of the room slid open. Pony looked up and for a moment all he saw was his big brother. His heart jumped up into his throat as he suddenly vividly remembered the last time he had seen Soda.

"Get off of me!" Soda yelled as he struggled hard against the security guard's grip. As his temper flared he spun and threw a punch at the guy. He was much bigger than Soda, and didn't appear phased much by the attack, but he immediately retaliated by throwing Soda face down on the floor and pinning his arms up against his back as he dug a knee into his lower back to keep him down. Pony froze and could only stare, shocked at what had just happened.

Pony felt his stomach drop as he looked over at Soda, struggling on the floor as the guard tightened his grip even more. Pony was really afraid he might pull Soda's shoulder out of socket. He already had a bad shoulder from when he had torn a ligament when he used to ride in the rodeo. Soda had to be in more pain than he was letting on. Pony suddenly felt like he had the power to stop this, but he still hesitated. It hurt that he couldn't even have a proper goodbye with his brother. They had taken even that from him.

It had been a terrifying moment and Pony remembered being truly afraid for his brother. For a split second Pony was happy simply to see him. The feeling didn't last long though as Pony took in Soda's full appearance. It quickly became painfully apparent that Soda's situation hadn't improved at all since Pony had last seen him. Besides the orange prison jumpsuit and the handcuffs which were disturbing enough to see on his happy-go-lucky brother, he could clearly see that Soda had been in a fight recently. One eye was almost swollen shut; he had cuts and bruises on his face, neck and arms. He was also walking with a slight limp.

But as his eyes fell on his younger brother, Soda smiled and Pony couldn't help but grin back. As Soda was brought over to the table Pony stood up and hurried over to him.

"Hey, Ponyboy," Soda said. His voice was quiet, almost subdued, and a little hoarse. He lifted his arms slightly, but couldn't open them for a hug because they were retrained by the handcuffs. "C'mere."

Pony threw his arms around his brother and squeezed him tightly. Soda leaned into him in an attempt to return the hug. They stayed like that for several minutes before Pony finally pulled away. As they went to sit at the table Soda looked at Pony and frowned.

"What happened to your arm?" he asked, concern in his voice.

"Oh," Pony said flatly, looking down at his cast. He had almost forgotten about it. "It's nothin'."

"Sure don't look like nothin' to me," Soda said seriously.

"The first foster home they put me in… wasn't so good," Pony said reluctantly.

"How many foster homes were you in?" Soda asked.

"Just two," Pony said. "But I'm home now."

Soda nodded. "Yeah. I'm glad you're home again." There was something in his voice, something off.

"It'd be better if you were home too," Pony said quietly.

Soda nodded, looking pained. "I know. I wish I was. I wish I hadn't gotten myself into this mess."

"It wasn't your fault, though," Pony pointed out quickly. He paused. "It was Mark, wasn't it?"

Soda sighed. "Yeah. It was."

Pony's eyes fell to study the table in front of him. "I'm sorry."

"Hey, it wasn't your fault," Soda said immediately. "Trust me, I egged him on plenty after you left." His tone was bitter. "It was stupid but… I liked gettin' into fights there. It was somethin' to do other than just sit around and wait for somethin' to happen."

"I know what you mean," Pony admitted. "It was hard when I didn't even know that Darry had woken up in the hospital. It felt like I was never gonna go home. Like I was never gonna see you or Darry again." Soda nodded, his features sympathetic. He obviously knew the feeling well. Pony studied Soda. "Are you alright?" He immediately knew that it was a stupid question, but he didn't know what else to say.

"I'm hangin' in there, kiddo," Soda said flatly. "Can't say I'm terribly popular in here."

Pony looked at him sadly. Neither of his brothers had ever lost a fight before. That made it especially hard to see Soda like this. "Darry's doin' everythin' he can to get you out," he told him.

Soda nodded, though he didn't look hopeful. "Yeah, I know."

"He went to social services yesterday," he told him, trying to sound a least a little upbeat. "They told him that he could testify at your trial next week. He can make an argument to get you back in his custody. Ms. Daniels told him to make the case that it was the boy's home that drove you to what happened and that you would be better off with him."

"Well, that's somethin'," Soda admitted.

Pony hesitated, wondering if he should tell Soda what was on his mind. "Darry… didn't go to work today," he told him slowly, a little unsurely.

Soda's eyes snapped to him, clearly knowing what that meant as much as Pony did. "What?"

"He got a migraine this mornin'," Pony went on. "It… it was bad."

Soda cursed under his breath. He put his elbows on the table and rested his head in his cuffed hands. "I wish I was there to help."

"I think you will be," Pony said. "I mean, you didn't do what they said you did. I think you'll be home next week."

Soda gave his younger brother a sad smile. "Thanks, Ponyboy."

They spent the rest of the visit simply catching up. It got to the point where they could forget that they were sitting in a juvenile detention facility and could simply be brothers who hadn't seen each other in a while. But before long that illusion was shattered. A police officer came to announce that the visit was over and took Soda away. Pony watched him go, feeling his stomach sink. He missed his brother. He hated to see him taken away like that.

Finally Pony was led back out of the facility. Outside he found Steve leaning up against his car, smoking. Pony approached him and before either of them said anything Steve silently offered Pony a cigarette. Pony gladly accepted.

"How's he doin'?" Steve asked as Pony lit up. He tried to sound casual but there was tension in his tone.

Pony shrugged. "Okay, I guess," he mumbled. He glanced over at Steve. "Looks like he got beat up pretty good recently though." He wasn't real sure if that had happened before or after Steve's visit the day before. But from the look on Steve's face and the way he cursed bitterly Pony guessed it was after. "If he stays in there, d'you think he'll end up like Dally?"

"He ain't gonna end up like Dally, 'cause he ain't gonna stay locked up like that," Steve said fiercely. He flicked away the butt of his cigarette and headed back around to the driver's seat. "Get in, kid. I got an idea."

Pony gave a start at that, but did as he was told. He scrambled to keep up as he climbed into the passenger's seat just as Steve started up the car. He rolled down the window slightly to let the smoke from his cigarette out, though trying his best to keep most of the cold November air out as well. As Steve took off too quickly out of the parking lot he had a wild look in his eye. Pony had no idea where they were going, but he didn't bother with questioning Steve at this point. He simple settled in for the ride, trusting that Steve wanted Soda back home just as much as he did.